


An Idiot's Romance

by captainsthve



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Flirting, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, awkward!Steve, steve admits to having tried to flirt with sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-12 08:04:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11157699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainsthve/pseuds/captainsthve
Summary: So. Steve’s not the smoothest person.Which is why he’s currently knocking on Sam Wilson’s door and groaning, “Sam, I’m hopeless.” as soon as the door swings open.Sam just rolls his eyes and lets Steve in. “That is not new information. What happened?”So Steve recounts the events of the morning with Sam listening patiently and only teasing a little bit. “You know Steve, I’m going to write a biography about you one day and I’m gonna make millions because no one will believe that Captain America is so hopelessly in love with his best friend that he turns into a middle schooler with a crush.”aka the one where Steve realizes he's in love and also realizes he's horribly bad at flirting.





	An Idiot's Romance

The truth is that Steve’s never been a smooth or romantic guy. 

When he’d been younger, he’d been even more awkward than he was now. The only dates he ever went on were ones that Bucky had snagged for the two of them and during those times, he usually managed to embarrass himself by stepping on the girl’s feet or spilling his drink on her. 

He’d always been slightly envious of Bucky who carried himself with such careless elegance and could convince even the shyest girl to dance with him with just a flash of that charming smile. Steve knew what it felt like to have that smile directed at him and he was probably the most susceptible to it- he couldn’t count the number of times Bucky had convinced him to do something stupid by using that grin on him.

When Steve got bigger, he wasn’t any less awkward. The world seemed to think that since he got up on stage constantly, that he must be pretty confident off of the stage too. They were all surprised when they met him in real life by how little he spoke and by how awkward he could be. 

He liked that Peggy called him out on it- that she saw him for who he was. And while the Howlies respected his orders during battle, they would tease him mercilessly for how shy he was when they got a chance to go to a bar or to a dance hall.

Now, in the future Steve is only slightly less awkward. His likes hanging out with Sam or Natasha because they never expect him to be who the world sees, never expect him to be Captain America when he doesn’t want to be.

And now that he has Bucky back, he can be himself with him too. Steve thinks that he’s never more himself than he is when he’s around Bucky. Even now, seventy years later, after all that they’ve been through- all the fighting, the forgetting and the falling- Bucky still feels like home. 

But the thing is that lately, Steve has begun to confront what Bucky really means to him. He feels a little braver about his feelings in this shiny, new future. He lets himself think about the fact that he’s always loved Bucky. He loved him when they were just a couple of dumb kids, loved him through the war, loved him when Bucky didn’t even know who Steve was and he lets himself admit that he loves Bucky now. 

This revelation is a problem, however. 

Because now that Steve has admitted to himself that he loves Bucky, he’s become a mess whenever he tries to interact with his best friend. 

For instance, just this morning he was sitting in the kitchen reading the newspaper when Bucky walked in. Not a big deal, right? Wrong. Apparently, anything Bucky did these days affected Steve more than he wanted to admit. So when he walked into the kitchen, clad in boxers and a Black Widow tank top, tying his messy hair into a bun at the nape of his neck- well. Steve needed to take a deep breath to collect himself.

He gave Steve a sleepy smile as he headed for the coffee pot, mumbling “Mornin’,” As he opened the cabinet to get a coffee mug, the metal plates in his arm shifted and his tank top rode up to expose his stomach. 

Steve quickly turned his attention back to his newspaper as he felt his neck turn red. He cleared his throat, “Morning, Buck.” 

Bucky walked over with his coffee, sitting down at the table next to Steve. He yawned and said, “I don’t know why the fuck you get up so early, Steve.”

“It’s 9am.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He gave Steve a little wink over the rim of his mug. “I guess you got to sleep for 70 years. We’re not all so lucky, pal.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “Funny.” He took a bite of his toast and said, “Are you up to anything today?”

He shrugged, “Might go to the shooting range with Clint or something.” Bucky gave Steve an exasperated look as he finished chewing his toast, “I swear to God, Rogers, your Ma would smack you over the head if she saw you eating like that.”

“Like what?”

“You’ve got jam all over your face, you idiot,” he said fondly, “C’mere.” He leaned over the table, closer to Steve and reached up with his right hand to swipe some jam off the corner of Steve’s mouth. Steve watched with wide eyes and a blush rising on his cheeks as Bucky sucked the jam off of his own thumb saying, “Mmm, strawberry.” He winked at Steve again.

Steve stood up all of a sudden, chair clattering to the floor as he jumped up. “I gotta-g-” He picked the chair up as he spoke, setting it down much rougher than he need it to. “I, um,” 

Bucky raised an eyebrow, looking a little startled. “You okay there?”

“Yes!” Steve said, voice unnecessarily loud. “I just remembered I gotta go do- um I have to, do, um...Sam!”

The corner of Buck’s mouth quirked, “You have to go do Sam?”

“See Sam.” Steve laughed nervously, “I completely forgot.” He headed for the door, tugging his shoes on quickly. “Okay, well, bye then.” He laughed again, sounding a little manic. 

Ignoring the confused look Bucky was giving him, he closed the door behind him and slumped against the closed door, slapping his palm against his forehead and groaning at himself. 

So. Steve’s not the smoothest person. 

Which is why he is currently knocking on Sam Wilson’s door and groaning, “Sam, I’m hopeless.” as soon as the door swings open.

Sam just rolls his eyes and lets Steve in. “That's not new information. What happened?”

So Steve recounts the events of the morning with Sam listening patiently and only teasing a little bit. “You know Steve, I’m going to write a biography about you one day and I’m gonna make millions because no one will believe that Captain America is so hopelessly in love with his best friend that he turns into a middle schooler with a crush.”

Steve flips him off without lifting his head from where he’s face planted in the counter. “Are you done?”

“Yeah, okay.” Sam says, “So what I’m hearing is that you need a lesson in flirting. When’s the last time you flirted with someone?”

Steve turns red, “Um.” At Sam’s raised eyebrows, he mumbles something into his arm. 

“Could you speak up, Romeo?”

Steve sighs and says, “Okay -please don’t laugh- but the last person I flirted with was, uh, you?” It ends up sounding like a question.

Sam laughs at him anyway, “Where was I when this alleged flirting happened?”

Steve glares at him a little.“When we first met. Ya know like... ‘on your left’.”

Sam gives him an incredulous look. “You flirted with me by running laps around me and then reminding me how slow I was?”

“I was trying to impress you!” Steve exclaims.

“Is that why your shirt was two sizes too small?”

“Nat said it looked good and that it might help my situation.” Steve says sheepishly. 

“Was it also Nat’s idea to roll up in a fancy ass car?” Sam asks, looking thoroughly amused at the whole situation.

“Maybe.” He crosses his arms, “But this isn’t helping, Sam!” 

“Okay, okay. Maybe we should scratch the flirting, then.” He thinks for a second and says, “You know that my solution to everything is music. Specifically, Marvin Gaye. You’ll get laid instantly.”

“I am not serenading Bucky, Sam. I can’t sing for the life of me, that’s Buck’s thing. He’s always had a really nice voice, ya know? And-”

Sam holds up one hand, “I’m gonna stop the pining right there. Who said anything about serenading? Ask him to dance. Actually, you know what? You have no rhythm.” Steve huffs but doesn’t deny it. Sam continues, “Ask him to teach you to dance!”

Steve wrinkles his nose, “I don’t know, Sam.”

“Why? You got a better idea, hotshot?” Sam asks, “Oh I know! I think I have one of my nephew’s shirts lying around. You wanna go home wearing that?”

Steve groans. “Fine! I’ll try it.”

“Good.” Sam nods in satisfaction and opens his phone. “I’m gonna find a good song right now.”

“Thanks.” Steve says, and then, “Hey. Wait a second- didn’t you suggest Marvin Gaye to me when we first met?”

“Did I?” Sam doesn’t look up from his phone, “Hmm.”

***

So Steve spends some more time with Sam, discussing exactly what he wants to say when he gets home. Sam kicks him out when Steve suggests writing up a script for what he’s gonna say. 

He gets home in the afternoon and finds a note on the counter in Bucky’s neat handwriting.

'At the range with Clint. Be home in the evening.' - Bucky

He smiles fondly at the note, feeling a little brave after his conversation with Sam. He had also suggested that Steve make supper for Bucky because “What man doesn’t love a homemade supper?” So Steve decides to make a run to the grocery store to get some supplies.

The thing is, Steve is pretty sure that Bucky is flirting with him. Who just seductively sucks jam off of their thumb like that? And he feels like Buck’s always finding some kind of excuse to touch him, a hand on the small of his back when they’re moving around each other in the apartment or an arm around his shoulder when they’re watching television. 

Steve has seen Bucky’s moves, he knows how he likes to flirt. He’s seen him tease and wink at girls more times than he’s wanted to. The problem is that Bucky’s always teased and winked at Steve- it’s just how he’s always talked to Steve. And he’d never read into it before, never wanted to really, but now. Now he read into everything Bucky did or said. Sam was right- Steve is a middle schooler.

Steve gets everything he wanted at the store- chicken, some veggies. He wants to keep it simple. What could go wrong with chicken and veggies? Apparently, a lot. 

After Steve gets back to the apartment, he turns on the oven to preheat it. He figures he doesn’t need a recipe, and sets to work chopping up the vegetables. While he’s chopping an onion, Steve begins to daydream a little. 

What will Bucky think when he gets home? How will he take Steve’s suggestion to dance? And if he does, how will he dance with him? Steve hopes it’s slow and gentle, those strong arms tucked around his waist, the scent of him so close and familiar. Would Buck kiss him? Would- fuck.

Steve looks down and sees that he’s cut himself with the knife. It doesn’t hurt but he’s bleeding onto the veggies he’s cut already. He groans and decides to stick the chicken in the oven while he goes to wrap up the finger he cut. He grabs the bandages with pictures of a cartoon Hulk from under the sink and wraps a couple around his finger. 

As he’s finishing he realizes that he’s still in his pyjamas from the morning and that his hair is a mess. So he runs to the bedroom and pulls on a pair of jeans and the first shirt he can find that’s relatively clean. He’s about to fix his hair when a loud beeping noise fills the apartment and fuck. Steve’s forgotten about the chicken.

When he opens the oven door, he realizes he completely forgot to grease the pan and the chicken is burnt on one side and is sticking to the pan. Great.

“Idiot.” He says to himself. “Stupid, stup-”

“Why are you burning down our kitchen, Rogers?” 

Steve jumps and turns to see Bucky standing there, shaking his head with a smile on his face. “Um,” Steve says, “I was trying to make supper. Oops?”

“What kind of sauce is on those veggies, pal?”

“It’s blood.” Steve says, defeat in his voice.

“Of course it is.” Bucky says. “It’s okay, let’s just order in, okay?”

And Steve all of a sudden feels so tired. Tonight was supposed to be the perfect night. He’s gone seventy years pretending he wasn’t in love with Bucky and he’d been so ready and excited to make a move. And he realizes, looking at Bucky’s fond smile, the dimple in his chin, that he doesn’t feel nervous anymore. He doesn’t care whether Bucky loves him back or not, or whether the night is going how he planned- he just wants to spend time with Bucky any way he can. 

So instead of answering his question he asks. “Hey, Buck, will you teach me how to dance? I never got a hang of it when we were younger.”

And instead of waiting for an answer he goes to the living room and turns on the song that Sam had chosen, lets the song fill their apartment. He goes over to Bucky, who still looks a little confused and tugs him into the living room. “C’mon,” he says again standing in front of him, “Teach me.”

There’s an odd, searching look in Bucky’s eyes and he’s not saying anything. But he eventually takes Steve’s hands that are hanging awkwardly by his side and sets one on Bucky’s shoulder and holds one in his flesh hand. The metal hand comes to rest on Steve’s waist and then- they’re moving, together. Steve lets Bucky lead completely, feeling safe and content in a way he hasn’t in a long time. Bucky steps closer so that their cheeks are pressed together and the moment feels infinite but then all of a sudden the song is over. The song is over but Bucky isn’t letting go.

Steve moves his head to look at Bucky, see what he can figure out from those beautiful blue eyes. Bucky meets his gaze and suddenly Steve feels seventeen again- in love with his best friend, too scared to act on it. But he remembers himself, feels the seventy years he spent away from Bucky slam into him all at once and he thinks about how someone could fall from your grasp at any moment and how stupid he is for overthinking all these years. So he stops thinking- he acts.

He leans down and kisses him- his best friend, his heart, his Bucky. And he knows, as soon as he does it that it’s right. Because Bucky doesn’t miss a beat and kisses him back and it’s everything Steve has waited his whole life for. 

They pull back and Steve says, “Ok, Sam was right. You can never go wrong with Marvin Gaye.”

Bucky laughs loudly and pulls Steve back in for another kiss. “You’re an idiot, ya know that?” He mumbles against Steve’s lips. “It’s okay, though. You’re my idiot.”

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr @ captainsthve i yell about these tortured boys on there. i'm happy to take prompts as well <3 thanks for reading!


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